walasek

It's in your profile which you can edit via buttons at the top right of the forum but for now I've changed it for you. As for a FBX plugin... lots of folks would love to have such a converter. I for one would just like to know more about using Visual Studio with A:M. I have a few projects I'm researching but its going to take awhile to get educated. Welcome back! Quick question before I go looking for my old AM code for my exporters... Is there a new SDK for AM? Last one I used was probably for v13 or earlier... I tried looking on the website, but couldn't find any info on it or how to download it. If you could personally email me where/how to get it, I would appreciate it... arthurwalasek@comcast.net

Hello again everyone, My name is Arthur Walasek, and I haven't been around for quite some time, but you probably notice my name around (especially in Fuchur's signature). I am the person that made some of the importers and exporters for AM (way back in the day). I had my own gaming company for quite a while (making casino games) and I really haven't used AM for about 8 years to do anything (I don't use anything else either). I would definitely use AM if I had to model or animate. The reason I am re-introducing myself is that I find, in what I am currently trying to do, is to use the Unity 3D engine for some personal/business projects. I believe that I will be needing models and animations (since I like making games), and I was going to start using AM again for that purpose (I have to get a subscription as I am sure mine ran out a while ago). However, I see that there isn't an easy (or necessarily super cheap) way to export models and animations from AM. (I see a video and some posts about going from AM->Direct X and then using 3D Unwrapper or some other tool to do it). Is there something I am missing in getting AM models/animations into .FBX? If there really isn't another way, I will be looking at writing an exporter from AM -> FBX directly. I have the Autodesk FBX SDK and Visual Studio is second nature to me. Is there anyone else with a need for this? I also don't know if it is possible, or how long it will take me as this is a sort of side project (my current projects don't need models/animations). It also would be a good way for AM'ers to possibly make some money using the Unity Asset store (if you could export your models and animations and get paid for your work). Anyway, let me know if there is a better way to export to .FBX from AM, and if people are interested in this plugin. I reactivated my innovateenterprises website, so the older AM plugins (.OBJ, .DXF, .ACT, .LWO) are available. I don't know if they still work for the current AM, but I could recompile them for it (if I find my source code). Arthur Walasek arthurwalasek@comcast.net (ps how do I change my email for this forum as it is not awalasek@comcast.net) President CMC Gaming Systems, Inc. http://www.cmcgaming.com

I'm also near Sacramento... Folsom to be exact. I use to do the Bay Area meetings (ok I did 1 or 2 of them), and met Jeff Cantin there. If there is something you would like to discuss as far as AM or importers/exporters, drop me an email. Arthur Walasek Innovate Enterprises arthurwalasek@comcast.net

I knew I should stay a programmer.... Thanks, that makes a lot of sense of what happened.... yes I am kicking myself. Arthur

I was trying to resize a model (the Jason model on the Extra's CD). I wanted to have everything move proportionately (bones, vertices, etc). I was able to select the model bone in the PWS, select the whole model, and scale while holding down the ctrl key. All the bones and vertices sized accordingly - great. However, the bones no longer kept their control pts - not so great... Anyone know how to resize and keep the bones control pts? Arthur

Sorry I didn't respond to the emails, I just saw them today... I will post here though some answers... Up through version 13 beta 4, importing did not work. It didn't work on my plugins, nor did it work for any other plugins that were installed that I could find. I know that Hash just recently released the non-beta v13, but I haven't yet tried the plugins to see if they will import. Exporting seemed to work fine. If you were testing with version 13 beta, then you must have the yeti cd and be able to run AM v12. Importing and exporting do work for v12. What application made the original models? What format (binary or ascii), if you know, is the file in (some formats support both an ascii and a binary representation)? I will try to be more receptive to my emails, sorry it's taken so long to reply. Arthur Walasek arthurwalasek@comcast.net

Thank you, thank you, thank you... That is *exactly* what I was looking for - the golf ball is perfect... (I knew there had to be an easy way to do it) Arthur

Hi everyone, Even though I've been around for quite some time, I'm still very, very new to modelling. What I would like to find out, is how would be the best way to make a golf ball in AM? I have looked and searched for the answer here in this forum, and come up with using bump maps on a normal sphere as a good way, and this sounds great. (Here comes the newbie part). I have found a bump map, but it is basically a big rectangle with the dots stretched at the edges (mainly at the top/bottom). I have tried just applying the image as a decal, and flattening the image (although Im not that great at flattening). Both results varied in effectiveness, but basically, the dimples are still stretched at the top/bottom and in the back. So my question is if I am to apply a bump map, how (what steps) do I need to take? Do I split the golf ball in half and flatten each half? (seems like this would make a seam) Is there a way to do a spherical unwrap within AM? I would rather use the bump map as this way doesn't introduce any new geometry, and I think (based on what Ive seen so far) that it will work just fine. Any help, pointers, or directions to web sites would be appreciated... Arthur